Witnesses: We were threatened

Rajneesh Lakhanpal

Ludhiana, August 20

“Due to the fear of the then government (SAD-BJP), I could not bring out the truth. My family and I were threatened with implication in false cases,” claimed RD Awasthi, one of the main witnesses in the alleged City Centre scam, during a recent investigation by the Vigilance Bureau (VB).

He alleged: “I was forced to give a statement that on May 11, 2005, I was asked by Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) chairman Paramjit Singh Sibia (now dead) to open bids at Hotel Park Plaza and that bribe money was distributed there by the MD of Today Homes, which in fact was not true.”

“VBofficials in civvies used to take me to court for recording statement,” he claimed.

Head constable Arvinder Singh, a gunman of Sibia, in an affidavit, claimed he was pressured by the VB to give a statement contrary to the facts with a threat to implicate him in the City Centre case, like other accused. Similar was the version of LIT chairman’s driver Somnath.

Another witness, Dilbagh Singh, driver of the then LIT SE Manmohan Singh, claimed he never went with SE to the residence of the then Local Bodies Minister Chaudhary Jagjit Singh to hand over a briefcase.

He claimed he never went to the hotel and the SE never handed him money. “I was taken to the court under pressure and the VB forcibly got my statement recorded,” he added.